The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1916. A LESSON FROM ENGLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1916. A LESSON FROM ENGLAND.

Expediency plays a large part in the legislation of this country. The permanent gcod of the whole is not always studied. Factions possessing considerable votes have to be mollified, and concessions given to them that are not always in the best interests of the general community. For many years the liquor vested interests were all powerful in the country, and practically dictated the licensing policy. Then came the reaction, and with it the growth of the Nolicensu party. The No-license party declared for six o'clock closing. It was a unique opportunity for the Government to do something statesmanlike. But it did not. There was the liquor party to be considered, so a compromise was effected. "Shouting" was declared illegal. A half-loaf was better- than no bread, said the No-license party, and from to-day there is to be no more "shouting," at least ostensible "shouting.'' There is nothing surer than that it will prove a dead ietter, for there are a hundred and one ways of effectually overcoming the disability. But it is a concession to the anti-liquor party, and it won't hurt the Trade'. Now, iwhy did not the Government take a leaf from the book of the conservative old British people? We are accustomed to think we lead the world in everything, particularly in our licensing laws. Not long after the war commenced the British Government saw that the unrestricted sale of liquor in and near the great industrial centres engaged in war work was having a prejudicial effect on the capacity of the workmen, and promptly decided to take the matter in its own hands. The Government did not seek to wipe out the traffic. It knew quite well that that course would not provide a, solution to the vexed liquor problem. Instead, it started remodelling the traffic. It converted the public houses into institutions which are more like working men's clubs than public houses. Canteens are attached to each, where food may be bought, and everything is being done for the comfort of those men to whom these places stand as their only means of recreation. There, are separate rooms foi foremen and tha higher officers of the works. The canteen in one house will seat 250 persons, and in the other 350. This means a substantial enlargement. Outside the houses there is a terrace where the men may sit and smoke, and it is intended to provide bowling greens and other means of recreation. In another area a considerable number of houses are to be dealt with. Some of the housps are being closed and the remainder "gutted," so that they will have big bars instead of the little drinking rooms that formerly obtained. In addition, the Board is building a large new refreshment house. Discussing the new order of things, a Home paper shows that one jf the obvious causes that led to the heavy drinking at some of these places was the fact that the men when they had finished their work had nowhere to go to rest and little more amusement than could be got at a neighboring publiclioubo in company with their fellows. 1 This new refreshment house will meet

this dilliculty, mid it has beta built with u view to providing, not only food and drink, but also recreation for workers. The man who does not approve of a public-house can find a part set aside for the consumption of tea, coli'ee and other "■soft" beverages. The theatre is used for concerts and lectures. The main building, the refreshment house proper, is an L-shaped structure, and in the semi-enclosed portion tliere is a bowling green and quoit pitches. This is a form of State control which has great possibilities, and it has been left to England, where the vested liquor interests have such a potent influence, to lead the way. New Zealand could have done .worse than institute a similar departure in the neighborhood of the military camps for a start, instead of bringing down a regulation like that of anti-shouting that can never achieve any lessening of drinking noi remedy the abuses that are inevitably connected with private control of liquor.